Western Kentucky head coach Bobby Petrino watches during an NCAA college football game against the Louisiana-Lafayette at Houchens-Smith Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, in Bowling Green, Ky.

Written by

Western Kentucky University's chances of winning the Sun Belt Conference football championship took a critical blow Tuesday night.

WKU fell 37-20 to Louisiana-Lafayette before a Houchens Industries-L.T. Smith Stadium crowd of 16,359 and an ESPN2 audience. The Hilltoppers (4-3, 1-2) are two losses behind Lafayette (4-2, 2-0) and Arkansas State (3-3, 1-0).

In both of their defeats they have blown double-digit first-half leads. This one probably hurts more than the 31-24 defeat at South Alabama. ...